No More Silence

As we learned in Season 1, social media plays a part in encouraging youth violence but also has the potential to prevent youth violence. For this episode, youth writers from Fearless Writers imagine what it would be like for high school students from all over the world to take over social media for a day and banish harshness, judgement, and negativity.

In this episode, we examine the seeds of silence that lead to conflict. Violence isn’t just a physical act; it’s often the end result of misunderstanding. When we are dismissed or buried under labels we didn't choose, that invisibility can turn into a desperate need to be seen and heard by any means necessary.

In this episode we will be hearing from University of Toledo graduate student members of a Fearless Writers both in social work and medicine who were given five writing prompts to encourage creative writing about experiences of childhood neighborhood segregation and experiences of a predominantly white university in the United States. These students wrote short, raw poetry pieces for each prompt and today will be sharing 2 pieces each. We will also be joined by George Thomas from the Fair Housing Center to learn more about the Ode to the Zipcode documentary and the Ode to the Code poetry contest held annual in Toledo.

This episode was inspired by the Youth Summit to prevent youth violence, a partnership between Save Our Community and Rogers High School Fearless Writers and Ram Empowerment Project.

On today's episode, we explore the theme "Breaking the 'Tough It Out' Mentality" through personal reflection prompts.

This is a special episode dedicated to the six families who lost loved ones to gun violence over the July 4th holiday in Toledo.

In this first episode of Season 2, we share responses to writing prompts that reflect on the barriers to adult and youth understanding and imagine pathways toward adult and youth connections.

On this episode, both adult and youth members of Fearless Writers Community Empathy Write will be considering adultism through creative writing and sharing of personal experience.

This episode features a discussion with Brysen Davis, a violence interrupter at Woodward High School, and members of the Rogers High School community discussing the importance of social media to violence escalation and prevention. This episode also includes Matt Foss from University of Toledo who has been a part of creative ways to bring positive stories about individuals and neighborhoods while taking on challenges being faced by Toledo.

Today we will be talking with Mykal Mims who is a violence interrupter for Save Our Community. Mykal in based at Jesup Wakeman Scott High School. He grew up in Toledo and is a graduate of Rogers High School. Mykal generously dedicated his time to talking with students, parents, and teachers at Rogers High School about his understanding of trauma and healing based on his personal and professional experience. This dialogue between Mykal and the Rogers’ high school community is included in this episode.

Today we will be chatting with Chitranjan Greer Travis, a doctoral student and adjunct philosophy instructor at the University of Toledo. We will also hear from members of Rhythm & Rhyme, a student-created poetry club at Rogers High School as well members of Fearless Writers. This group will be answering questions and sharing short written pieces inspired by The 6 Principles of NonViolence by Martin Luther King Jr.

Today, we will be talking with Celia Williamson who is the director of the Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute at University of Toledo and the host of the podcast Emancipation Nation. Dr. Williamson has a new book out about interpersonal violence titled The Survivors Journey written in 2022. Dr. Williamson is considered one of the topmost influential living social workers of our time and is global expert on human trafficking and leads the over 2 decade established annual human trafficking and social justice conference bringing survivors, professionals, academics, and students together to learn about social justice advocacy.

On this episode, we will be hearing excerpts from the Black Issues Conference at BGSU where several students from Fearless Writers presented pieces written for the community empathy write focused on adultism. We will also hear from high school students sharing their raw writing pieces from music they have chosen as writing prompts to highlight positive messages and issues that matter to youth. These writing prompts are similar to the first episode titled “Considering Adultism.” We will also be hearing from Naujae Stone and Dalliss Lothery both juniors at Rogers High School discuss their perspectives on adultism.

Today we will be talking with Mark Kwiatowski who is the Pastor for University Church. We will also be hearing from a youth created poetry group at Rogers High School called Rhythm and Rhyme. This group will be answering questions and sharing short written pieces inspired by Six Principals of Nonviolence.

On this episode, TPS high school students who have been a part of Ram Empowerment Project will be discussing the impact of violence and what youth see as possible solutions to the problem. The questions posed to each student in this episode were designed by high school students.

On today’s episode part two of “Youth Leading the Charge”, high school students are interested in hearing from adults in their school community about changes they are seeing in youth violence and the ways in which high school educators chose to listen to youth voice and encourage youth leadership in serious matters like gun violence.

On today’s episode, high school students will be sharing their stories about how violence has impacted them and what solutions they see for decreasing gun violence in Toledo. According to the Center for Disease Control guns were the leading cause of death for children under 19 in the United States in 2022. University of Michigan’s Youth Violence Prevention Center points out that “Racism and economic disinvestment have undermined opportunity and contributed to rising firearm violence in cities across the U.S.” Raising awareness about the root causes of gun violence is important in inspiring youth and communities to push for social change. No More Silence is one way in which youth in Toledo are hoping to get the word out to the community and inspire community members to come together in the fight to end violence in Toledo.

In the premiere episode of No More Silence, university students and adult members of the writing community will be sharing raw writing pieces they have written as part of a community empathy write that started in Nov 2024. The prompts for this writing project are songs picked by high school students as having a positive message and research information on adultism. In the month of November writers were asked to write about the following phrases often said by adults to children: “You’re so Smart for 11;” “It’s Just a stage. You’ll grow out of it;” “What do you know? You haven’t experienced anything;” and “You think this is hard? Wait until you’re an adult.”